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Mr. John McCallum, aged 76 years, of Tantanoola, died at the Thyne Memorial Hospital on Sunday night. He was a member of one of the oldest and longest-lived families in South Australia, and was the third member of the family to join the great major- ity. He was born at Woodside on August 17, 1846, and was thus in his 77th year. There were nine in the family, and their combined ages total- led, before the first death was records ed, 686 years, or an average of over 76 years. The surviving brothers are Mr. Dugald McCallum, of Millicent, the eldest of the family, who will be 83 years old on the 9th of November next ;

Mr. Duncan McCallum, Glencoe West, aged 69 years ; Mr. Hugh McCallum, Marryatville, 82 years. Mesdames Annie Tolmie (79) and Mary Long (71), of Mount Gambier, and Mrs. Janet McArthur (73), of Dulwich, are sisters. In the year 1863, Mr. Hugh, who had previously worked in the South-East, returned to Mount Gambier, and se- lected three sections of land for his father, at The Springs, the price being 30/ per acre. The brothers subse- quently came overland from Woodside with a bullock team and cattle. They fenced the land, and left it in charge of the late John McCallum. A few months later the family came to the South-East, reaching The Springs in April, 1864. The first crop of 30 or 40 acres of wheat turned out well. The boys brought a threshing machine by sea from Adelaide, and on landing it at Port MacDonnell they did a lucra- tive business threshing for the farm- ers between there and The Springs, the price being 20/ per hundred bush- els. The boys were champion plough- men with the old-style implements, and, from the age of 15 years, com- peted with distinction in the ploughing matches in vogue at that time. Mr. John had his first taste of fame in this connection at Mount Gambier, where he was ruriner-up to his brother Hugh and won the second prize of £7 in a big match in the Tarpaulin Paddock on July 10, 1866. From that time John became a champion, winning a con- siderable amount in money prizes, and a beautiful collection of silver plate given from time to time as trophies for competition, and which he retained up to the time of his death. He was the acknowledged champion of the South- East, his closest opponent being his brother-in-law, the late Mr. James Mc- Arthur. In later years the brothers launched out on their own account, several of them favouring the Millicent and Tantanoola districts. The late Mr. John McCallum settled in the last named district, where he was a suc- cessful farmer, and was generally res- pected. He leaves a family of seven children. The funeral took place on Wednesday, the place of interment be- ing the Millicent cemetery. In the ab- sence of the Rev. J. A. Pawson, Milli- cent, the funeral service was conducted by the Rev. A. Dyer.